Chris Carlin on SNY’s Loud Mouths said the Mets refused to guarantee a second year on his deal, since he is 35 years old, and so Molina chose to sign with the Giants.

…well, good for Omar Minaya, or Jeff Wilpon, or Wayne Krivsy, or whomever is handling contract negotiations for the Mets these days… seriously, great job, whomever it is… i know omar has a reputation for overpaying when he wants some one, so i’m glad to see the team was only willing to go so far for molina…

…of course, this will not stop the New York Post, and other newspapers, from framing this is ‘Mets LOSE OUT on Molina,’ despite CHOOSING not to go overboard for him… but, that’s fine… so long as molina isn’t killing rallies in Citi Field, i’m happy…

Updated at 5:37 pm:

Andrew Marchand from 1050 ESPN Radio, in a post to Twitter, says he talked to free-agent C Yorvit Torrealba’s agent, who said, “I’m waiting to hear from Omar and see where we go from here.”

Meanwhile, Jon Heyman of SI.com says the Mets may ‘stand pat at catcher,’ as they are unenthused by Torrelaba and free-agent C Rod Barajas.

Heyman says the Mets offered Molina $5 million, plus incentives, which, according to Heyman means, ‘He must not have liked mets very much.’

Updated at 5:27 pm:

According to Ken Davidoff of Newsday, in a post to Twitter, the Mets last offer to free-agent C Bengie Molina was a ‘take-it-or-leave-it.’

…it’s interesting to me, in that i was under the impression the Mets offered molina a two-year deal, guaranteed, at around $5 million per season… yet he leaves, and returns to San Francisco…

Earlier today, CBS in San Francisco said Molina signed a one-year, $4.5 million with the Giants.

…from what i can gather, molina really wanted to return to the Giants… but, they had been quite distant all off season… and so, i wonder if a) the second year from the Mets wasn’t guaranteed, and b) maybe the Giants decided against keeping Buster Posey in the big leagues, and so they re-approached molina, and essentially matched the one-year money from the Mets… and so he took it… bizarre… it’s never a dull, is it…

Updated at 5:02 pm:

This morning, Buster Olney of ESPN.com said Molina turned down the Mets most recent offer.

Olney now says on Twitter that the Mets top catching target is now Torrealba.

In early December, ESPN.com said the Rockies and Torrealba were getting close to agreeing on a two-year contract; but talks were put on hold, as the two sides disagreed over the value of the deal.

…from what i can gather, torrealba had been seeking a two-year, $6 million deal, while the Rockies were offering around $2.5 million per season…

The 31–year-old Torrealba hit .291 with a .351 OBP with two HR in 64 games for the Rockies last year, while splitting time with C Chris Iannetta.

Original Post at 4:54 pm:

The Giants signed Molina to a one-year, $4.5 million contract, according to a CBS San Francisco.